Building construction



July 28, 1936. s. JOHNSTON BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 24, 1931 Sierll'lg Jolueslaia July 28, 1936. I s. JOHNSTON 2,

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BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 24, 1931 4 Sheets-Shee t a" gwue'ntot.

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July 28, 1936. s. JOHNSTON BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 24, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 STATES 2,049,262 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Sterling Johnston, Bethlehem, Pa., assignor to McClintic-Marshall Corporation, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 24, 1931, Serial No. 564,831 11 Claims. (01. 20-16) My invention relates to the doors of large buildings, particularly of hangars used for :the housing of aircraft, and has for one of its principal objects the provision of a door structure which in its open position will cause the minimum undesirable disturbance of the air currents in the vicinity'of the building. In one embodiment .of the invention, a pair of doors are employed at each end of the hangar, these doors being supported on individual carriages which are moved on rails entirely away from the building and the doors then turned about a'vertical axis so as to present their. edges to the wind. As a further improvement a shape of door may be chosen which will in such positioncause a minimum production of eddy currents in its wake.

In addition to this important object certain advantages in structure and control are also obtained as will be more fully apparent from the description. 7 a

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a door and its supporting carriage. 1 7

Fig. 2 is a vertical section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. r 1

Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal outline sections through the door on the lines 3--3 and 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detail of the mechanism for rotating the door.

'Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are side and front elevations and plan of the hangar end with the doors in their closed position.

Fig. 9 is a plan of the hangar end showing iother positions of the doors.

Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate diagrammatically certain alternative arrangements of the invention. Fig. 12 shows supplementary apparatus used in controlling the doors.

Fig. 13 illustrates diagrammatically a further alternative arrangement of the invention.

Fig. 14 is a detail of door and hangar construction.

Referring to Figs. 1-5 which represent one specific embodiment of the invention, H is one of a pair of doors used for closing an end of a hangar. The door is constructed with an inter- .nal skeleton of structural members i2 covered with an outer curved sheath of sheet metal or other material iii. The door diminishes both in doorxis carried by central pivot l4 located on the .top of mast 15 which in turn is rigidly secured to carriage l6. Guiding ring I 8, fastened to the lower portion of the door, rolls against a circle of rollers, one of which is shown at I9, this arrangement cooperating with pivot M, preventing any motion of the door in relation to 5 the carriage except rotation about the pivot axis. Roller l9 revolves on eccentric 2! keyed to shaft 28, which in turn is held in bearing block 29 bolted to the frame of carriage iii. A rotation of shaft 28 causes a radial adjustment of roller l0 19, such adjustment being used for purposes of original line-up and correction for wear. Setscrew 30 serves to hold shaft 28 in its adjusted position. Ring gear also fastened to the lower portion of the door, concentric with guide ring 15 I8, meshes with pinion 2|, which through shaft 22, worm wheel 23, worm 24 and shaft 25 is actuated by motor 26, this motor, therefore, serving to rotate the door in relation to the carriage. Worm 24 may be made irreversible in order to 20 hold the door against wind pressure in any position or a separate brake may be provided for the purpose. Bolt 38, sliding in guide 39, secured to the carriage, and adapted to enter socket Ml, fastened to a portion of the door structure, serves 25 to lock the door in the rotational position it must occupy in closing the hangar.

Carriage I6 is provided with a set of flanged wheels 3| which roll on track 32, motor 33, acting through train of gears 34, causing this movement in either direction along the track. Power for operating motors 26 and 33 is furnished through insulated third rail 35.-

Sheet metal apron 36 covers the working parts of the carriage and with extensions 31 on the bottom of the door forms an effective closure at this point when the doors are in position against the hangar. Furthermore, pads or flaps of resilient material may be provided between the edges of the doors and the hangar and be- 40 tween the two doors. In Figs. 3 and 4, 42 represents a pad, one of which is attached to the edge of each door where they contact with each other, while the other edge 4| contacts with pads attached to the edge of the hangar opening. The 45 construction is shown more in detail in Fig. 14. Here M, the tapering edge of door H, is in contact with pad 15 attached to member 14 which is a portion of the hangar end. The pad consists of an inner spring construction 16 enclosed in a resilient outer covering Tl.

Figs. 6 and 7 are side and front elevations and Fig. 8 is a plan of an end of hangar 52 with doors 5B and 5| in the closed position. It will be seen that the end of the building terminates in a blunt 55 'ment is shown at 5|], Fig. 9.

Although the fact that the doorslare moved away from the immediate vicinity of the hangar would in itself tend to lessen the effect of eddy currents formed in their wake, with fairly strong winds these would still be serious. The revolution of the doors about their axes, however, makes it possible to align them so that they present an,

The term fstreamline section as here used is understood to refer to the section ordinarily given to fins, struts; and other members employed in aircraft construction where the intention is to minimize air resistance and eddy currents. Although considerable variation in exact shape is permissible, ingeneral it may be described as a flattened section formed of curved lines, or a combination of curved and straight lines, which from a thick middle portion converges fore and aft either to acute angled or rounded ends. It has been found in practice that the forward end on which the air current first impinges may be made quite blunt even a semi-circle of diameter equal to the full width of the section, but that the after endshould have a long taper and terminate either in an'acute angle or a curve of 'smallfradius. The center of gravity of the. area of the section may therefore be in the middle of" the longitudinal axis of the section or be considerably displaced along thisaxis. The ratio between width and length of the section can be varied between reasonably wide limits, and, moreover, it is not essential, although it is in general desirable, that the surfaces on the two sides be of identical shape. v I n I At 5!, Fig. 9, is shown a door which has been moved away from the hangar and thenrevolved through a suitable angle in relationto the carriage to bring it in line with the wind direction as shown by arrow 53. It is usually customary to enter aircraft at the leewardend of a hangar but it is obvious that as rotation of the doors through a full circle is possible they may be orientated with the wind regardless of its direction.

In some cases it may be desirable asjan aid in docking an airshipto align thedoor at an angle with the wind for the purpose of influencing the direction of the air currents. In this 'case it may also be desirable to adjust the position along the track to obtain the most favorable results. a

' Fig. 13 shows a modification in which hangar l2 terminates in a square end whiletracks 18 are laid at an angle. Door 13 is in the correct angular position for closingthe, hangar. In Figs. 10 andll'are shown alternative arrangements which will accomplish the same purpose as that described. Here the door, and carriage are rigidly connected, no rotation between the two being provided for. In order to orientate 'the door, the track is curved so that by moving the carriage to different points along this track different presentations of the'door to the wind are obtained. Track ltLFig'. 11 conforms to the arc of a circle and l l, Fig.10, to astraight stretch ending in a circular arc. The various arrows are control.

'said door; i

intended to represent different wind directions.

' In the use of this scheme, the door is preferably made of a streamline section which is symmetrical fore and aft. Numerous arrangements for turning as a whole a door and carriage which are rigidly connected are obviously possible and need not be separately described. 7

'As an aid in orien'tating the door, it is intended 1 that instruments ,be provided to indicate to the operator when an angle exists between the axis of the door and the wind direction. A variety of schemes might-be used for this purpose, one of able fore'and aft position relative to the center 20 I of 'wind pressure, the door tends to line up automatically with the wind in the same manner as a weather vane. It may be found desirable to make use of this effect to obtain automatic 7 If this is the case the driving gear for rotating the door on the carriage should be made fully reversible and as free from friction as possibleor aclutch be provided to disconnect this driving gear from the door.

Having thus described my invention what I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Pathangar, a door of streamline section, a carriage for said door, a track for saidcarriage, means for. moving said carriage along said track toward and away from said hangar, and means for rotating 3. In an apparatus of the class described, a

portion of said hangar to form a closure, the seal-' ing line .of said closurelyingin substantially a vertical plane through the longitudinal axis of said hangar, a carriage for said door, and means for moving said carriage to a point remote from 'said'hangar along'a line which, forms an acute cooperate with the end portion of said' hangar to [form a closure, the sealing line of said closure lying in substantially a vertical plane through the longitudinal axis of said hangar, a carriage for said door, and meansfor moving said carriage toplane. v V

5. In an apparatus of theclassdescribed, a

. ward and awayfrorn said end portion along a line which forms an acute angle with said vertical hangar, a pair of doors adapted to cooperate with the end portion of said hangar to form a closure,

the planes of said doors when'forming such closure making acute angleswith the longitudinal axis of said hangar, a, carriage for each of said,

doors, and means for traversing each of said car- '6. In an apparatus of the class described, a

hangar, a pair of doors" of streamline section adapted to cooperate with'the' end portion of said iriages along'det'ermin-ed paths which are substantially perpendicular, to said longitudinal axis.

hangar to form a closure, the planes of said doors when forming such closure making acute angles with the longitudinal axis of said hangar, a carriage for each of said doors, and. means for traversing each of said carriages along determined paths which are substantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, a door comprising a framework and a sheath of streamline section enclosing said framework, a carriage for said door, a mast fastened to said carriage and projecting upwardly into said framework and a bearing member intermediate the upper end of said mast and said door.

8. In a hangar construction, a hangar, a door for said hangar, a carriage for said door, means for moving said carriage and said door toward and away from said hangar and for rotating said door to orientate it in relation to the direction of the existing air currents and means to indicate the position of the door relative to such air currents.

9. In an apparatus of the class described, a door of streamline section, a movable carriage, a vertical axle on said carriage to support said door, means for rotating said door in relation to said carriage and for holding said door in any desired position in relation to said carriage, and means for disconnecting the aforesaid means to permit free rotation of the door.

10. The method of opening an airship hangar and the like comprising the steps of removing a closure member to a point remote from the hangar and from other structures, positioning said member substantially parallel to the direction of the wind and adjusting said positioning in accordance with changes in the direction of the wind.

11. A door for an airship hangar and the like having a pair of edge portions and a pair of face portions, one edge portion being substantially thicker than the other edge portion and of radiused form in cross-section, the faces of the door being substantially tangential to the radiused 20 edge portion and converging toward the other 

